GUNS: LOADED CONVERSATIONSA JURIED SHOW BY SAQA DEALING WITH THE TOPIC OF GUNS

Whether used for hunting, sport, protection, commerce, or collection, guns have been part of a shared heritage and culture across the world. For this exhibition, SAQA artists were encouraged to explore the norms reflected in gun ownership, to consider how their experiences with guns may influence their opinions, to find ways to engage those of differing opinions, and to encourage community initiatives that may inspired solutions. The show premiered earlier this year at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles with 33 pieces of textile art selected from over 150 submissions. The show will travel to selected venues over the next few years. I feel honored to have my work selected for this important body of work.

​My work “Tribute to Selena and Other Victims of Gun Violence” is dedicated to human and animal, high and low born, brown, white, black or other. Thousands die every year from gun violence, and more and more we see mass shootings, massacres of people that the shooter does not even know. WHY? I don’t hate guns, I just hate the situation we have now in this country. I don’t have a solution. How do we stop madmen or assassins? How can we monitor the crime of passion or opportunity, or even worse, premeditation? The misty white overlay of this work represents death’s shroud, the red - the blood of the victims. Blood red beaded drops and spent shell casings decorate the binding. Ghosts plea from their graves for justice, believers pray to God or Mary or whomever they place their faith in for amends. The faces of victims both old and those painfully young watch you from the stitched surface.